Ancient Times to 1850 “Playgoers, I Bid You Welcome” Chapter One, MUSICAL THEATRE-A History

Theatre is a communal activity, yet there is scant evidence of ancient rituals and rites.

The Glory That Was Greece

Early Greek dramas were musicals Aeschylus, Sophocles and Aristophanes were dramatists AND COMPOSERS and LYRICISTS Perhaps we should date the musical from the 5 th Century BCE

Early Greek dramas were musicals  Theatre to the Greeks was not only an entertainment and a form of worship…it was dedicated to the divine patron of the harvest, theatre, wine and dance…Dionysus

Early Greek dramas were musicals  Even before the great Attic festivals, DITHYRAMBS were sung and danced to honor Dionysus  Thespis, a choric singer was not only the first actor, but the first to win the City Dionysia in 534 BCE

Three distinct forms developed in Greece TRAGEDY was somber in tone, using familiar stories from mythology COMEDY was light in tone and provided a happy ending, characters openly address the audience. Comic competition was added to the City Dionysia by 487 BCE

Classical forms in Greece  SATYR PLAYS involved profane man-beasts who lived in a perpetual state of arousal. Although not satirical themselves, our modern work satire derives from the form

At the festivals, dramatists often served as his own director and sometimes as the leading actor Support for the festival was provided by the local government Other production expenses fell to the CHOREGOS, a position the wealthiest men openly coveted The winning dramatist collected bragging rites and a modest prize

Showtime in ancient Athens

Ruins of Theatre at Epidaurus

Actors wore masks which might have aided in projection

Role of the chorus  Singing  Dancing  Playing musical instruments including the harp, flute and drums  EXISTING songs were often interpolated into tragedies and comedies  Stretches of monologues and dialogues were often interspersed with choral numbers

In short… Greek comedies, tragedies and satyr plays were performed like integrated musicals today.

Aristophanes – “The Birds” A modern Greek production of THE BIRDS. Performed by the Theatre Technis Karolos Koun of Greece as part of the 12th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama.12th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama.

The end of the City Dionysia came in 404 BCE due to the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta

The Roman Empire  Greek theatre forms were “borrowed” by the theatre of ancient Rome  Like the Greeks, plays were performed as part of festivals to honor the gods  Eventually, they built permanent open-air theatres

Ancient Roman Theatre at Aspendos

Plautus (born 254 BCE) PLAUTUS is the best remembered Roman playwright. His comedies included song, dance and musical accompaniment. Among his most popular works is the Menaechmi

Menaechmi is the basis of the 1960 musical…

THE MIDDLE AGES Saints and Clowns

Medieval “audiences” were illiterate and theatre was developed to teach  ORIGINALLY performed inside churches, as the forms popularized, the plays moved out of doors  MYSTERY PLAYS were dramatizations of Bible stories  MIRACLE PLAYS involved the lives of the Saints  MORALITY PLAYS were allegories illustrating the seven deadly sins  FOLK PLAYS involved popular myths, such as the legend of Robin Hood  A few plays have survived including THE PLAY OF HEROD and THE SECOND SHEPHERD’S PLAY  Some scholars suggest a crude follow spot using polished metal bowls was introduced for these outdoor dramas

The Second Shepherd’s Play

In the 1400s commedia dell’arte developed in Italy

Innovations of the commedia  Improvised scripts  Stock characters (innamorati, vecchi, zanni)  Slapstick bits (lazzi)

Developments in the Renaissance  Rediscovered the classical texts which led to the development of opera as a through-sung entertainment by Monteverdi and the Camarata FiorentinaMonteverdi  Shakespeare included songs into his playssongs  Moliere turned our comedies with song and dance for the court of Louis XIV the court of Louis XIV

Popular forms in the Age of Enlightenment (17 th century in Europe)  As prosperity grew, greater demands for popular entertainment developed  Grand Opera enjoyed widespread popularity  COMIC OPERA became an all-purpose classification for any form of 18 th or 19 th century stage entertainment that included songs

COMIC OPERA developed as a unique form in the mid-19 th century  An example is Michael Falfe’s THE BOHEMIAN GIRL (1845) the story of an Austrian noblewoman kidnapped in infancy who falls in love with a Polish Count.

Comic opera was a precursor to operetta …and was developed in France in the mid-1800s by Jacques Offenbach

Pantomime was a form that included  Songs  Dialogue  Dance  Physical Comedy  Acrobatics  Special effects  Clowning

English pantomime developed along its own lines presented annually at Christmas as satirical entertainments for children

Ballad Opera  This hybrid form used existing popular ballads and operatic arias, usually in such a way that the original title or lyrics of a song added to their meaning. “The first BALLAD OPERA ever written is still frequently discussed and even occasionally performed today. In the eyes of some, it is the great-grandfather of modern-day English-language musical theatre. That designation is an exaggeration, but only because governmental oppression stifled this new art form in its cradle.” (page 29)

THE BEGGAR’S OPERA (1728) by John Gay

Developed as a response to opera and as a means to satirize the corruption of power The Beggar’s Opera The Beggar’s Opera was a response to a Whig government that Gay believed had enriched itself at the nation’s expense If government administrators were no better than common thieves, why not skewer the form of opera (so beloved by the upper crust) with a story that depicts the upper class as criminals

Of the 69 songs, 41 used melodies taken from popular tavern ballads In the early 20 th century Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill transformed THE BEGGAR’S OPERATHE BEGGAR’S OPERA into the THREEPENNY OPERATHREEPENNY OPERA

BEGGAR’S OPERA set precedent for musical theatre throughout the American and European theatre It’s lasting influence is seen in works as diverse as Gilbert & Sullivan or Mel Brooks Mel Brooks

Such are the earliest roots… While early works like THE BIRDS, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, THE BEGGAR’S OPERA, etc. are sometimes performed today, the modern musical’s family tree formally reaches no further back than the 1840s, when a new strain emerged in Paris…